Exorcist 2 was lousy and in my mind it never existed. This is the true Exorcist sequel. Written and directed by William Peter Blatty (the writer of the original) this flick delivers the goods in a polar opposite way than the first. A lot of people I talked with concerning this sequel tell me that the story is incomprehensible. To that I say: va fan goul! The problem is that people don’t listen anymore. General audiences are used to being shown everything and have become way lazy. With this film you have to pay attention cause it’s very character and dialogue driven.

In the original, there was a lot of gross out effects. Here, most of the kills are hinted at and described in the dialogue. Personally it shocked me in a different way. The dialogue is brilliantly written and I was consumed by it.

The film uses subtle methods to scare you. Wind blowing sheets of paper, diabolical whispers and enough religious statues (that open their eyes, show up with an evil grin…) to give me nightmares (churches give me the creeps…)

The bantering between Kinderman (Scott) and Dyer (Flanders) is sharp, witty, smart and funny. The scenes between the Gemini Killer (Dourif) and Kinderman (Scott) are fine examples of two acting heavyweights duking it out. I had a blast.

Blatty also serves us with two off the wall scenes that are sure to take u by surprise. The first is an old woman who thinks she’s « Spiderman » and the second is someone with a talent for beheading. That’s all I’ll say. I made those two scenes sound like jokes here but in the film…hold on to your « Doritos » and get ready to be freaked out.

The movie has a few faults and most of them are « studio interference » related. My main problem is the ending. Where the first hour and a half plays it very subtle, very quiet with the occasional burst of action, the ending is a Hollywood lightshow, way too big to match the rest of the movie. Watching Father Morning « Rambo » his way into the cell to perform his exorcism, felt out of place. The ending left a sour taste in my mouth.

Other faults are minor : namely Kinderman telling someone that he was close friends with Father Karras when in the first film, they only shared a few scenes and then Karras dies. The other fault (not really a fault, more of a pet peeve) is during the whacked out dream sequence taking place in heaven (I think that's where it is) a certain hack by the name of FABIO (yes the model, butter dude) shows up. Fabio doesn’t have a line but his mug threw me off. Stay out of movies Fab, keep to your romance book covers.

Look for the Child's Play in-joke spat out by Dourif.

In the original Kinderman was played by the late Lee J. Cobb and Father Dyer was played by William O’Malley.